(Warner Bros.) [free to download here]
Curren$y's rock-steady, calmly consistent flow is prompting innovative producers far and wide to use him as a center-stage instrument. Ski Beatz brought him through an irresistible downpour of analogue heaven on the Pilot Talk LPs, while on the fine recent effort Weekend at Burnie's he was guided through Monsta Beatz's unashamed Miami Vice cheese, always holding his own in either scenario.
The most intriguing recent matchup for Curren$y, though, is easily the Alchemist. This brief EP-length mixtape is the result of their combined efforts, and it attempts to score solely on atmosphere. Curren$y grins and smokes and rhymes his way through the Alchemist's disarmingly stark signature mix of urban horror and new age sonics, but for the first time he sounds as if he can't quite find his way out of the intricate maze his producer has raised around him. Except for the obvious showpiece "The Type," the songs run barely three minutes, which ordinarily would be a praiseworthy feature but here keeps some cuts that seem potentially ill -- the promisingly smooth "Double 07" and swaggering "Scotty Pippen" especially -- from ever getting off the ground.
There's no problem with Curren$y's chorus-free minimalism, or else Pilot Talk and the studio albums in its wake wouldn't have been so striking, and there's not necessarily a problem with Alchemist's showy, outlandish backing; whereas the Ski Beatz productions simply provided a pillow for the rapper's ramblings, Alchemist never stops calling attention to himself. There's a reason he gets co-billing on this instead of just a production credit. Curren$y's nonsense detours about rotisserie chickens and variations on Pattycake about getting high require a bit more levity than Alchemist's thudding rampages can offer. There are pleasures to be had from this mixtape, but it is much more a mere distraction than the ample proof of laid-back greatness Spitta's other releases of late have provided.
[SEE ALSO:]
Pilot Talk (2010)
Pilot Talk II (2010)
Weekend at Burnie's (2011)
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